Broca goniometer for measuring angles of the face, France, 1862-1900

Credits: National Railway Museum

Used to measure the ‘Jacquart’ angle of the face, the two arms of the device are placed on either side of the skull. The vertical measure is placed on the skull so the angle from brow to jaw can be read off the graduated dial at the bottom.
The ‘Jacquart’ angle and other measurements of the face, such as the extension of the jaw, were used by anthropologists in the 1800s to classify human types and ‘races’, in the mistaken belief that some human groups were more evolved than others. Human types were then placed on an evolutionary ladder, inevitably with Europeans at the top. The device was invented by Paul Broca (1824-80), a French surgeon and anthropologist.